The York Jewish History Trail Track 1: Introduction Welcome to the York Jewish heritage audio trail. This exploration of Jewish life in York, both in medieval times and the more contemporary past, is the product of a research project by University of York postgraduate students in conjunction with the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past. Our journey is narrated by York City Archaeologist John Oxley. The trail begins at the Visitor Information Centre on Museum Street with a brief introduction to York‟s Jewish history. The history of Jewish communities in England is a long and complex one, and the Jews of York have a special place in this story. While the massacre at Clifford‟s Tower in 1190 is the most famous episode of York‟s Jewish history it is only one part of a vibrant and fascinating story that begins nearly a thousand years ago. Jewish communities first came to Britain in significant numbers with William the Conquerors‟ Norman invasion of 1066. Jews, unlike the rest of the English population, were made direct subjects of the king; they had no feudal or financial loyalty to local landowners. This special relationship gave the king major financial benefits and, as we shall see, had a serious impact on York‟s Jewish community. It is important to remember that in stark contrast to modern attitudes charging interest on loans, or „usury‟, was considered a serious sin in the Middle Ages and was forbidden by the Church. This meant that, although there were a small number of Christian money-lenders, Christians were not supposed to lend money for profit. However, Judaism does not include this rule so Jews were free to act as moneylenders and did so, both in York and elsewhere. By making Jews his direct subjects the king had full access to this wealth and, as we shall see, made great use of it in the form of taxes levied on the Jewish population. Anti-Semitism was widespread in medieval Europe and it is important to know that while York has a special place in Jewish history it is not alone. The discovery of the bodies of 17 Jews in a well in Norwich, thought to have been murdered in the thirteenth century, show that the massacre at Clifford‟s Tower was not an isolated act of anti-Semitic violence in medieval England. In 1218 a decree made it a legal requirement that Jews wear a badge identifying themselves as Jewish. England was the first, but certainly not the last European nation, to institute such a law. In 1290 Edward I expelled the entire Jewish population of England. All Jewish property was seized by the crown and all outstanding debts were made payable to the king. The expulsion of the Jews was a popular policy and transferred vast sums to money to the Treasury. The Jewish population in England at the time was relatively small. While population estimates vary, there was probably about 5000 Jews, that is less than 1% of England‟s overall population in the thirteenth century. Jews were not able to return to England until 1655 but some people were given special permission to remain in the kingdom. A famous example is Rodrigo Lopez, physician to Elizabeth I. During the seventeenth century ideas in Britain began to change and commercial and colonial interests developed. In an effort to benefit from Dutch Jewish trading interests Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, tried to attract Jews back to England. However, Cromwell only gave informal permission for the Jews to return to England in the 1650s, he failed to lift the ban on Jews residing in England but tried to make it clear it would no longer be enforced. However, Jewish communities did not return to England in significant numbers until the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century. Despite the decline of anti-Semitism in Britain and the widespread participation of Jews in British commercial and public life throughout the nineteenth century, Jews only gained legal equality with most of the British population in 1890; a stark reminder of the all too recent intolerance and inequality of British society. Track 2: The Norman House We are now going to head to our first stop; Norman House. Please refer to the map included in your brochure for the route. The courtyard containing the remains of the Norman House is accessed via a doorway on Stonegate marked with a plaque above the door. If the door is locked, a key can be obtained from the office of the church of St. Michael-le-Belfry. This is located on Deangate, opposite the entrance to York Minster‟s gift shop. Once in the courtyard stop to listen about the Norman House and the early Jewish community in York. In a city as ancient and rich in heritage as York, the remains of any building that claims to be the oldest of its kind is always impressive. But it is only in the last century that the remains of the oldest house in York is having its time in the sun- literally, as for hundreds of years these ancient stones had been hidden away, their existence forgotten to everyone. This house was built between 1170-1180, it is also in this period that we have the first evidence of Jewish settlers in York. As the only surviving example of Norman domestic stonework that remains in its original location, this building is hugely significant. It is all that now remains in York of the late twelfth century boom in stone construction amongst the burgeoning merchant and administrative classes. This social category would have included the wealthy members of the Jewish community in York who were enjoying a period of growing prosperity under the reign of Henry II. In this period, the wealthy were building in stone on a scale unseen before. Stone was at the top of the building material hierarchy, being the most expensive. As it is often said, „stone meant status‟. Stone houses such as this were built with a large hall on the first floor, the floor level of which you can still see in the line of red stone remaining on the right hand wall. This was used as living quarters, whilst an undercroft below was used for storage. Although construction in stone increased throughout this period, the vast majority of urban dwellings would have still been built in timber, and so considerably sized stone houses such as this would have stood out as grand, impressive buildings belonging to an individual of some status. As such, stone houses belonging to Jewish owners often became the focus of Anti-Semitic aggression. Chroniclers speak of angry mobs in Westminster being „Unable to penetrate into their [the Jews] strongly fortified stone houses…‟ so they set fire to their straw roofs. Some scholars now think that perhaps Jewish housing has tended to be associated with stone because of the protection it afforded its inhabitants. Meanwhile, in York the 1190 attacks on the Jewish community began with an attack on and torching of the leading Jew Benedict‟s house on Spen Lane. The chronicler William of Newburgh records of Benedict and Joceus that „…with profuse expense they had built houses of the largest extent in the midst of the city, which might be compared to royal palaces; and there they lived in abundance and luxury almost regal, like two princes of their own people…‟ It is clear in accounts such as these that the luxurious living quarters of the leading members of the Jewish community became a site of resentment for anti-Semitic prejudice. Although not all Jews could afford to live in such grand stone houses, Jewish housing was nonetheless exclusively urban in the medieval period. The Jewish community in York consisted of around 150-200 people in the late twelfth century, who all lived close to the principal commercial areas of the city that provided their income. We can see from records that the Jewish community was carrying out a whole range of different jobs and tasks in York. Occupations such as pawnbroking, peddling, physicians, landlords, money-lenders, scholars and coin minters. Our main source of evidence from the Jewish community in the twelfth century comes from the national taxation records, the Pipe Rolls. The first mention of a Jewish community in York comes in 1176 to 1177. We know the York community of the later twelfth century had very, very strong links with the Jewish community in Lincoln, in fact York‟s Jewish community probably started as an outpost of the Lincoln community. These close links can be seen in the career of Aaron of Lincoln, who between 1166 and 1186, was one of the dominant figures in the Jewish community in England. In 1170 we can see two individuals, Benedict and Joceus, working in York on Aaron‟s behalf. It is only on Aaron death in 1186 that these two individual emerge from his shadow to become the major financiers and moneylenders in the North of England. There are also architectural links between the two cities, the nearest surviving counterpart to the Norman House is that of the so-called „Jew‟s House‟ in Lincoln which has been linked to medieval Jewish ownership. The surviving window of the Norman House is almost identical to that in Lincoln, and both houses were built around the same time. It would seem like the type of housing enjoyed by Benedict and Joceus in York. So the twelfth century was a period of growing prosperity for the Jewish community, not only in York but in the other cities that they settled in.